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It has been a great summer for lavender in London, plenty of rain to
boost its growth and more recently warm breezes to dry out the flowers. We returned for our second London Lavender Harvest. It is the high point 
of the guerrilla gardener’s calendar at this location and a very satisfying result a year and a half after our two hundred or so plants went in. Sharp shears are the only serious tool you need.  I brought those and Emma 
3239 brought lots of old plastic bags, Imogen 2507 found some slinky bio-
degradable compost bags and Andrew 1679 discovered that leaves
Guerrilla gardening lavender harvesting on Westminster Bridge Road
from cordyline make suitable ties for big bunches. It took two hours to cut
two car loads of the crop. Passers by were a little concerned by what 
looked like theft but we reassured them this cutting back was not just 
good for the plants, but also all part of the guerrilla gardening mission.
This is a very productive patch of land.  I now have a garage stuffed to
the gills with lavender that has to dry out before we shake it off the
stalks and stuff it into more pillows which will be for sale in a few weeks.
Guerrilla gardening lavender harvesting on Westminster Bridge Road
Project Ten: Westminster Bridge Road. Guerrilla Gardening: 7 August 2007. Barbara 1120 rang me from the
National Garden Scheme HQ with
an offer of boxes of pale purple Bearded Irises! Thank you. We made our exchange in a busy car park in Richmond and a few days later seven troops and I gathered back at the London Lavender Field (as we now call this glorious traffic island) to plant them. Flowering will not be until next year at the earliest.
Summer 2007 London Guerrilla Gardens are Blooming. The sun is out and so are the sunflowers, some are already eight feet high and still growing!  The photos below are of the guerrilla gardens around SE1 in central London.  Local authorities have been both uninterested and in some cases destructive despite our openness. The battle continues, but you’ll see from these pictures that we and the rest the passers by are winning!  To see how miserable and neglected the land once was read on below in this blog. This is a long labour of love.
Guerrilla gardening around London Road and Perronet HouseThe incredible cloudy London lavender field planted by guerrilla gardeners
My Guerrilla Gardening Canada Research Trip July 2007
Luc Guerrilla Gardening In MontrealLuc Guerrilla Gardening In Montreal
Poster Child guerrilla gardening in Toronto
Poster Child Guerrilla Gardening in Toronto
Toronto Public Space Committee Guerrilla Gardening
I was invited to talk about guerrilla gardening at the Port Eliot Lit Fest. A local tipped us off that the station had an orphaned platform, so Lyla 1046 and I dug out a fresh trench next to a smothered rose and in went two new mallow (Lavatera ‘Burgundy Wine’, Lavatera ‘Barnsley’) and some verbena. By mistake we also planted the MG in a boggy field.The accidental planting of my MG in a boggy field at Port Eliot. Thanks Oak for towing us out.
Guerrilla gardening on the platform of St German's railway station Cornwall.
This evening we were unfortunately terror suspects. The potential bomb was my 1969 MG laden with bags of wood chippings.  We had a huge delivery, and whilst Mike 054, Olly 2087 and Andrew 1679 lugged most onto the traffic island a few were left on and around my car. Police were alerted and questioned us. Fortunately they soon concluded we were mere gardeners but Bill English, the proprietor of the nearby Stamford's wine bar, was not so easily reassured.  He was furious with us and described our gardening as “pointless since no one will notice it”.  This was a rare and depressing moment of aggression.  I was determined to win him round with my eulogy about sunflowers and I’m glad to report he parted by giving me £20 and a handshake.Piles of mulch, the suspected MG BGT car bomb and the finished weed free mulched guerrilla gardening sunflower triangleLyla Patel, Andrew Haining, Olly Zanetti and Kate Clark next to the six foot guerrilla sunflowers and a saucy ad for Sloggi (or should that be slog?)
Clare, an artist who had been exhibiting flowers alongside poetry and sheds outside the Royal Festival Hall e-mailed to offer the whole lot to me for adoption.  I took two car loads away and this week planted the beautiful purple sage, chives pot marigolds, and black mint all around my neighbourhood. I made room for a new herb garden by the front door to the tower block. Also Black Mint at St George's Circus guerrilla gardening
amongst the bounty were fifty lollo rosso and oak leaf lettuces which were not going to enjoy the move. So I branched out into free food distribution. GuerrillaGardening.org notices went up around my tower block and all afternoon a stream of faces familiar and new came to my door for their free salad. What fun.Lots of Free Fresh Local Lettuce For Perronet House This Monday Afternoon! 
The violent slashing of the white Butterfly Bush outside Perronet House (see post below) has been confirmed as the council’s action. I opened peace talks by writing to two councillors and their housing office and eventually a contractor called to agree a truce, but insisted “we hate these bushes, they are weeds, we attack them at any time of the year”.  This is mindless, unacceptable violence. Sure, if they are sprouting from a bridge then remove them, but there is no need to half-heartedly butcher a delicate white specimen like this in a flowerbed ­ which they planted!  It transpires the issue is complicated by the council’s scandalous charging of the residents of Perronet House for “grounds maintenance” outside their building when until their recent attack they had done absolutely nothing for years! I call that fraud. So I met Councillor Noakes, who inspected the devastation with me and has proposed surveying all 100 flats to see if they want me to continue gardening and saving them the cost. What a load of red tape!  I shall continue regardless.

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